Andromeda 2
by cwcoddington
Summary: The Andromeda encounters a weapon and a form of higher being that she and her crew have never encountered before, resulting in Andromeda's world being lost. Chp4 Preview: Harper and Beka go in search of the other crew.
1. Who Knows How It All Will Go To Hell?

"Andromeda 2.0"  
From - ANDROMEDA: THE NEW UNIVERSE

- CHAPTER 1 -

"That takes care of the Magog. You would know the Perseids and the Than would try and save the day, but die trying," Beka enlightened, as she prepared to slipstream Andromeda out of the current sector. She lightly tapped a button on the console and began piloting. "Transiting to normal space in 3, 2, and 1," Andromeda reported. "Andromeda, my beautiful love child, what would I do without you," Harper stated in desperate attempts to seduce the ship. "You would die," Andromeda informed him. "You want me. Don't deny it," Harper insisted. "Alright. I won't," Andromeda replied. Harper, who is turned on by the ship's hostility, heads out of Command towards the Observation Deck.

"Who would've thought that the Perseids would try and take on the Magog? I thought they were smart. It's one thing for the bugs to go and die, after all-it's nature to them. But the Perseids," Beka said. "You can't blame them for trying. The Than, or bugs-so you call them, have been losing to the Magog for hundreds of years, so I'm not surprised they jumped into that, and as for the Perseids, the Magog are now targeting their homes and children, due to their vast knowledge," Dylan replied on behalf of each race. "Blame them for dying," Harper added. "This is all enlightening, but I have things to do," Rhade stated, before he walked out of the Obs. Deck. "Captain. I'm detecting an unidentifiable energy source," Andromeda forwarded. "Where is it," Dylan asked. "I can't tell. The data is already twenty minutes old," Andromeda replied. "We're on our way to Command," Dylan stated. Dylan, Beka, and Harper got out of their seats and walked out of the Obs. Deck.

Trance was tending to her plants in Hydroponics, when she started to get an odd feeling from her precognition. "Trance? Are you alright," Andromeda asked her. "I sense an unforseen danger," Trance answered. "Trance. I need you in Command," Andromeda insisted. Trance paused for a moment, as she was trying to make sense of what she was feeling. "Oh, I'll be on my way," she responded.

Rhade walked down towards his quarters, when he heard loud scratching and tearing sounds coming from the hull. He paused in the hallway to see what it was. The sound had ceased for a moment. "I must be going insane," he stated to himself. After opening the door to his quarters, he walked in.

Beka, Dylan, and Harper were walking down the hallway towards Command, when they heard the sounds, too. "Andromeda? What is that," Dylan requested. "I'm unable to comply with your request, Dylan. Something is interfering with my systems. I can't perform statistical scans," Andromeda answered. "Harper. Go fix the problem," Dylan commanded. Harper turned around and walked in the opposite direction of Dylan and Beka, who were both entering Command.

Hundreds of unorthodox ships surrounded Andromeda and impacted on her exterior hull. They had begun to drill and rip through her like a circular, saw blade.

"Do you hear that? Something's on the hull," Beka motioned towards Dylan. "Andromeda. Take us out," Dylan demanded. "Dylan. I've detected enemy ships. They've impacted on my hull and they're eating through me," Andromeda informed. "Who are these people and where did they come from," Dylan said to himself. "Things seem to be getting worse, because Andromeda's systems are showing a large object approaching from behind us," Beka said. As Dylan turned his head to look at the tactical monitors, the power on the ship was suddenly lost. Rommie tried to walk towards Dylan to give him information, when she shorted out and collapsed on the Command Deck floor. "Rommie," Dylan questioned. "Switching to reserves. We have minimal power. Something's slowly draining our reserves," Beka stated. "Code black," Andromeda repeated.

Rhade grabbed his forcelance and ran out of his quarters towards Command. A pressure build-up blew open the deck and caused a forceful blow that speared Rhade across the room like a tennis ball.

The large object emerged over Andromeda's rear. It was a large, mechanical planet powered by an energy shield.

"Andromeda. Report," Dylan demanded. Andromeda was disrupted, but was still coherent enough to operate. "Dylan. There's a massive ship behind us. There are trillions of life readings. It's increasing in energy intensity," Andromeda answered. "Where did it come from? None of this is making any sense," Dylan lightly spoke to himself. Trance entered Command and paused in motion. "Trance. Take over weapons control," Dylan instructed. Trance ran over towards the console and manned it.

The massive ship fired a missile from the center of the energy shield towards Andromeda, but missed her by a few light-seconds. As the missile traveled farther, the more it was disintegrating. It imploded a few light-minutes away from her.

"Let's bring it," Dylan yelled. "Um, Dylan? I don't like to make the stress worse, but I don't have control over the slipstream drive," Beka stated in fear. "Captain! Something has activated my slipstream drive. All of my slip-runners are open. We're entering slipstream in reverse polarity. I can't shut the slipstream drive down. Access permissions have no effect over the drive," Andromeda informed. "What," Dylan questioned.

The missile implosion created a massive supernova. A portal opened and merged with the supernova and forcefully pulled Andromeda in. Andromeda began to swirl through the tunnel and gained speed with each growing second. Dylan, Beka, and Rhade exploded into a cloud, while Harper just faded into thin air. Trance, frozen in time, started to glow and disintegrated into a pile of stardust. A high energy wave passed over Andromeda's exterior hull, blasting her outer surface off, and replacing it with a newer, exterior texture. The Andromeda exploded and recompiled herself. She exited the portal and suddenly lost all power. Her crew and world were now lost. 


	2. Who Says Awakening From Sleep Is Good?

- CHAPTER 2 -

Rommie awakened on the floor of the Command Deck to an array of strange men standing over her. "Who are you," she asked. The men just looked at her. "Exactly how much power did you give her batteries," one of the men asked. "Sir, I fully charged her. We need her to be fully operational," another responded. "What do you mean you charged me? Harper? Trance? Rhade? Beka? Dylan," she yelled. "See what you can do about restoring power to the ship," the man ordered. Rommie got up on her feet, but was ordered to stay put by a man who suddenly raised a gun at her.

Harper was running. He ran faster with each second through a dark, long tunnel. He stopped to catch his breath. "Damn. I can't let them get me," he said to himself. He began running again. As a sound passed through the tunnel, Harper turned around to look as he ran. A group of men, heavily armed, were behind him. "Oh, no! No tailgating," he yelled. He drew out his weapon and started running faster. "I'm going to get a big Sparky after I get through this," he assured himself. "Don't let him get away! We need him to finish Andromeda's upgrades," one of the men ordered. "What if he's looking for the Andromeda," another asked. "Then kill him. We can't let him find her. It's game over if he finds her."

"Would someone please explain to me what's going on," Rommie asked. A large, dicrepid being with skin of grey approached her. He had faded blue streaks around his eyes, streaking from the socket out to the ear. His teeth were sharp and pointy and yellow in color. "Soon, slave, you shall learn the truth," he said. "The truth? The truth about what? What have you done with my crew," she asked. "Your crew," he asked. "I am a warship. I have a crew. What have you done with them? Don't think I won't defend myself, or them for that matter," Rommie stated hastily. The alien laughed evilly. "Soon, you shall be on our side, whether you like it or not."

Harper turned a corner and noticed a door. He opened the door and entered another long tunnel, closing the door behind him. He leaned back against the door to catch his breath. "Damn! Five years of slavery is enough," he said. He pulled out his com and activated it. "Andromeda? Can you hear me," he said into the com. "They haven't activated her, yet." He put his com away. Harper heard footsteps getting louder and louder with every passing seconds, resulting in him taking off running again.

"You said earlier that I would be on your side. What side is that exactly? What have you done to me," Rommie pressed conversation further. "The side of the great force," the being responded. "Really? What force is that? Where did you come from? What's your name? How did you find me," she said in response. "I am Anaris. As for your other questions, I don't have the time to be answering them, as of yet," Anaris responded. "I'm needed else where." He walked out of the Command Deck. "I hope they haven't died," Rommie said in a manner to indicate that she was losing hope.

In the control room, several men were assembled with the objective to reactive the Andromeda. "Have you figured this thing out, yet?" "I've never seen technology like this. It looks so outdated, but completely interconnected. Did you get anything out of that slave we took?" "Only information about where things are located on this ship. He's given us enough information to alter this ship over the past 5 years, despite that. And we've already begun charging the energy grid, Sir." "Great! Anaris will be pleased."

"Sir, we've gotten word that we're a step closer to getting this ship online," someone informed Anaris. "Perfect! You know, I never thought that we would be able to conquer the rest of the universe, but now...I think it's possible. I knew the second we laid eyes on this ship, that it was our key," Anaris stated aloud. 


	3. At Last We Meet Again

"Fear not, fear not brave men. For when we ascend to the pearly gates, we will meet again." -- Lt. Commander Piere, The Renewed Valor, C.Y. 10776

- CHAPTER 3 -

Harper turned yet another corner and discovered a large, steel door at the end of the hallway. He ran to the door and opened it. After walking inside, he closed the door, but to his dismay heard a whispering of his name. "Seamus," someone said. He looked absolutely confused as he searched around. Harper couldn't figure out where the whispering was coming from. He suddenly looked up and noticed a long narrow path of cages, lines up in consecutive order. "Cozy. This must be the first class hotel," he said. "Seamus. Get your scrawny butt over here," the voice said again. Harper turned around and noticed a familair face in the cage. "Beka," Harper shrieked. He ran over to her. "Shhh! Don't say anything aloud. You'll get us all killed. Have you seen Dylan, Rhade, or Trance," she asked. "Ummm...I haven't seen any of them in....five years, Beka," he replied. "Five years," Beka questioned. She started to get tears in her eyes. "Beka! Don't lose it, now. I'm going to get you out of here, somehow," he said.

The men in the control room suddenly heard the sound of components starting up. "Boot complete," Andromeda announced. "That wasn't supposed to happen, yet." "Who the hell activated her, already?" "Don't look at me." "We haven't even deactivated the defenses, yet." "Shit! Get out of here! Head for the airlocks!" Andromeda's internal defenses began firing at them, as they dashed out of the room.

"What's going on? Where are the crew," Andromeda asked her humanoid body in the Command Deck. "I don't know. I opened my eyes and they were gone. In a split second," Rommie answered. "Intruder alert," Andromeda repeated throughout the ship. "Wait...you're absolutely sure it was a split second? I'm detecting several onboard systems are missing, and I'm detecting several new ones that I can't communicate with," she observed. "Mapping hull structure. My hull is different," Andromeda informed. "How is that possible," Rommie said to herself. Anaris walked into Command with a look of rage in his eyes. "State your identity," Andromeda ordered. "Trust me. You don't want to know," Anaris told her. He turned around and walked out of Command.

"You've been here longer than I have. How do I get you out of this," Harper asked Beka. "The guard has a key. He only comes in once a night with our daily rations," Beka answered. "They feed you once a day?" "Yeah. It's been rough, Seamus." "I can see. Exactly when does he come in?" "I can't tell. It's always when the sun goes down." "That's not for a while, yet. I'll lay low for a while. You just rest here."

"Intruders. You have five minutes to vacate the ship, before I begin emergency termination of environmental systems," Andromeda ordered. Andromeda began to slowly depressurize herself to vent the oxygen. "Four minutes and 21 seconds and counting," she updated.

Anaris ran to the hangar deck. He boarded the ship, before it took off and left the Andromeda. "Let the ground troops know that we need to assemble reinforcements," Anaris instructed over a com unit. 


End file.
